"in the middle of bushes? What about bears, mountain lions, snakes, big foot, chupacabras, and thugs"

Well, as far as any of that is concerned, a rondom campsite is far less likely to get a hit from most such hazzards than any designated campsite. Take for example some totally choice bear hunting cover in manitoba or ontario. Imagine it has never been hunter before, or not recently, but it is exactly the kind of place hunters pay big bucks to hunt. Do you think setting up your tent just anywhere will guarantee a bear vist, not really. It takes choice preparation, maybe smudge burning bacon, etc... repeated hits on a fermenting grain barrel. Meanwhile there are any number of parks where you have to beat the bears away with a warden to have any peace at all.

Much the same idea with thugs. Do you routinely see gang members searching the foliage for marks. Aren't they more likely to hang out in higher concentration areas.

In theory the idea is to be stealthy, which means you would never be seen, but I imagine a lot of time that isn't what happens. One is partly drawn by stealth, but also other ideal characteristics of a given site, and it may be a compromise situation.